The protective effect of docosahexaenoic acid on the stomach in Parkinson's disease induced by MPTP in male C57BL/6 mice

The purpose of this study was to detect gastric changes in Parkinson's disease induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1.2.3.6.-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), and to investigate the protective effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) against these changes in mice. The mice were divided into 4 groups (n=10 in per group) as control, DHA, Parkinson and DHA+Parkinson groups. DHA was administered by gavage for 30 days. On the 23th day of gavage treatment, the animals of the Parkinson and DHA+Parkinson groups were intraperitoneally injected with MPTP. Seven days after the injection of MPTP, their locomotor activity, bradykinesia and rotarod performance were measured. Tyrosine hydroxylase expression in substantia nigra and the apoptotic index, the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and histamine, and the number of mast cells in the stomach were evaluated. Administration of DHA significantly prevented the reduction in motor functions (P<0.001) and nigral TH neurons (P<0.05), and apoptosis (P<0.05), and an increase in TNF-alpha concentration (P<0.01) in the stomach. An increase in the number of mast cells in the stomach wall was observed in PD (P<0.001). DHA prevented the increase in the number of mast cells (P<0.05) and the histamine level (P<0.01) due to PD. As a result, MPTP administration in mice caused changes in the stomach as well as impairment in motor functions, and DHA was observed to reduce these changes.